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Eagles have big day at McNeil meet

Eagles have big day at McNeil meet

Coaches were presented with a choice this weekend at the McNeil Invitational.

Enter your team into the Gold Division, by far one of the toughest races in the state of Texas, or stick with your classification – another difficult race, but not the catch-all competition of the gold race.

For Cedar Creek Stephen Morales, it was a no-brainer to enter the Cedar Creek boys team into the gold bracket, he knew they were ready for the highest level of competition.

“Last year we didn’t run in the gold race and we finished fifth in what was Class 4A,” Morales said. “We wanted to challenge ourselves. Make sure our guys know that they can run that fast. We’ve run toward the front of the pack before, but our times haven’t been as good as they were (at McNeil).”

Senior Michael Vallejo had the best finish for Cedar Creek, grabbing 36th in the 356-runner field with a time of 16 minutes, 27.61 seconds. Vallejo’s time qualified as national elite standard qualifying time, which means he could qualify for the New Balance Nationals and other national races.

A strong showing at McNeil is a pretty good indication for the postseason.

Since the race is run on the same course as the UIL State Meet, teams from all over the state visited Central Texas. It was also a chance for Cedar Creek to test itself head-to-head with several of the teams it will square off with in the area round from District 25-5A.

“I think it’s a really good experience,” Morales said. “You see all those teams that came over from all over the state. There are some different changes to the state course, so I think it was good from a coaching perspective to help any state qualifier be ready.”

On the girls side Cedar Creek entered the Class 5A race instead of entering the gold division.

Jessica Parnell led the Eagles and finished 28th in 20:46.96, while Nely Rodriguez and Lauren Lopez each finished in the top-60.

“They did really well,” Morales said. “I chose not to have them in the gold bracket, since many of them last year were racing against eighth graders in middle school. With them racing against, basically, grown women, you have to be happy with their performance and gauge how to challenge them.”

With their results, Cedar Creek has established itself as one of the favorites to advance out of District 26-5A.

On the boys side, Cedar Creek was the only team from 26-5A to up the ante and run in the gold division. On the girls side, Cedar Creek, Bastrop, LBJ, and the Ann Richards School look like they will be fighting for the podium.

Before the district meet Cedar Creek will run Chaparral Invitational on Friday.